He read aloud, his dry and academic voice br so quivering with conviction which we did not share, br his offering for a footnote which did not require br this amiable discursion such as only he could love; br br and as I sighed in inward kind despair, br and wondered when to break his scholar's drift - br his body turned to crystal; sculptured silver-gold br in detail; his familiar profile then became br by heavenly realignment, ideal, heroic, sublime; br his steady gaze, like some divine geometry, br focussed on the paper which before br had been a spiderweb of tedious, fond thought, br was now an arrow shot at truth itself br in love, and lifetime's care, and all humanity; br a god who had replaced a colleague's frame. br br It is enough just to recall that moment's view; br no explanation; but the whole world made anew.